We present here four noteworthy insider buys and ten noteworthy insider sells in the basic materials, energy, healthcare, and technology sectors from Tuesday's (May 1st, 2012) over 320 separate SEC Form 4 (insider trading) filings, as part of our daily and weekly coverage of insider trades. The filings are noteworthy based on the dollar amount sold, the number of insiders buying or selling, and based on whether the overall buying or selling represents a strong pick-up based on historical buying and selling in the stock.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX): CVX is a California-based international integrated energy company with operations in approximately 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil & natural gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transportation; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. On Tuesday, VP & Comptroller Matthew Foehr filed SEC Form 4 indicating that he exercised options and sold the resulting 36,000 shares for $3.8 million, ending with 468 shares in direct and 13,454 shares in indirect holdings after the sale (not including derivative holdings). In comparison, insiders sold 0.35 million shares in the past year.

CVX, along with many of its peers, such as ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), is trading within striking distance of its highs for the year, as fears over an Iranian conflict keep price of crude oil at elevated levels, despite near-term concerns of a flagging world economy and fears of a slowdown in China. In its most recent Q1 (March) quarter that it reported last Friday, the company missed on revenues but beat analyst earnings estimates ($3.27 v/s $3.22), and raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1% to 90c. Its shares trade at a discount 7-8 forward P/E and 1.8 P/B compared to averages of 7.4 and 1.3 for its peers in the international integrated oil & gas group, while earnings growth are projected to rise modestly from $13.44 in 2011 to $13.55 in 2013.

Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES): HES is a global integrated oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing of oil and gas worldwide. On Tuesday, Chairman of the Board and CEO John Hess filed SEC Form 4 indicating that he purchased 48,000 shares for $2.5 million, ending with 0.33 million shares after the purchase. In comparison, insiders purchased 0.33 million shares in the past year.

HES reported its Q1 (March) quarter last Wednesday, beating analyst revenue and earnings estimates ($1.60 v/s $1.56). Its shares, however, are slightly lower since the report, trading at 7 forward P/E and 1.0 P/B compared to averages of 8.5 and 1.5 for the U.S. integrated oil and gas group, while earnings are projected to rise at 16.5% annual rate from $5.75 in 2011 to $7.81 in 2012. Also, it has a dividend yield of 0.8% compared to the 1.3% average for the group.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE:JNPR): JNPR provides secure network infrastructure products and services that enable ISPs and telecommunications service providers to deploy services and applications and meet the demands resulting from the rapid growth of the Internet. On Tuesday, EVP & CTO Pradeep Sindhu filed SEC Form 4 indicating that he exercised options and sold the resulting 400,000 shares for $8.5 million, ending with 1.69 million shares in direct and another 3.6 million shares in indirect holdings (not including derivative holdings). In comparison, insiders sold 0.59 million shares in the past year.

JNPR shares soared last week, on Tuesday, up about 7% for the day, after it reported that in its Q1 it beat analyst revenue ($1.03 billion v/s $0.98 billion) and earnings estimates (16c v/s 13c). Its shares have since given back some of those gains, and are about flat YTD, trading at 17-18 forward P/E and 1.6 P/B compared to averages of 24.9 and 2.4 for its peers in the computer networking group.

On top of these, additional large insider sales on Tuesday in the basic materials, energy, healthcare and technology sectors included:

a $7.5 million sale by two insiders at Praxair Inc. (NYSE:PX), one of the largest industrial gas companies, manufacturing atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon and rare gases, and also process gases including CO2, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases and acetylene;

a $3.0 million sale by Chief Scientific Officer David Young at Questcor Pharmaceuticals (QCOR), an integrated specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, acquisition and marketing of innovative, acute care and critical care hospital and specialty pharmaceutical products;

a $2.9 million sale by two insiders at Lyondellbasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), that is a Netherlands-based manufacturer of polypropylene compounds, propylene oxide, polyethylene, ethylene and propylene;

a $2.3 million sale by six insiders at F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV), a leading provider of integrated Internet traffic and content management solutions;

a $1.0 million sale by two insiders at Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY), that develops small molecule drugs for hematologic and oncology indications, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases; and

a $1.0 million sale by three insiders at Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC), that is engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the south-western and Appalachian regions of the U.S.

Seachange International Inc. (NASDAQ:SEAC), a provider of multi-screen video products and services that facilitate the aggregation, licensing, management and distribution of video, TV programming, and advertising content to cable system operators, telecom companies, broadcast TV companies, and mobile communications providers worldwide, in which Director Edward Terino purchased 20,000 shares for $0.17 million, in comparison to 150,000 shares purchased by insiders over the past year;

Taser International (NASDAQ:TASR), a developer of less-than-lethal electronic control devices or ECDs for use in the law enforcement, military, corrections, private security and personal defense markets, in which two insiders purchased 32,000 shares for $0.15 million, in comparison to 121,300 shares purchased by insiders in the past year; and

global biotech research tools and reagents provider Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE), in which President of Medical Sciences Ronald Andrews purchased 3,330 shares for $0.15 million, in comparison to 28,880 shares purchased by insiders in the past year.

Credit: Fundamental data in this article were based on SEC filings, Zacks Investment Research, Thomson Reuters and Briefing.com. The information and data is believed to be accurate, but no guarantees or representations are made.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Disclaimer: Material presented here is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article should be taken as a solicitation to purchase or sell securities. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. Further, these are our 'opinions' and we may be wrong. We may have positions in securities mentioned in this article. You should take this into consideration before acting on any advice given in this article. If this makes you uncomfortable, then do not listen to our thoughts and opinions. The contents of this article do not take into consideration your individual investment objectives so consult with your own financial adviser before making an investment decision. Investing includes certain risks including loss of principal.

We only use your contact details to reply to your request for more information.We do not sell the personal contact data you submit to anyone else.

Thank you for your interest in Seeking Alpha PROWe look forward to contacting you shortly for a conversation.

Thank you for your interest in Seeking Alpha PRO

Our PRO subscription service was created for fund managers, and the cost of the product is
prohibitive for most individual investors.
PRO Alerts is our flagship product for individual investors who want to be faster
and smarter about their stocks. To learn more about it, click here.
If you are an investment professional with over $1M AUM and received this message
in error, click here and you will be contacted shortly.

Thank you for your interest in Seeking Alpha PROWe look forward to contacting you when we have an individual investor product ready!